Hokkaido '95 Football Club
Hokkaido '95 Football '''is a professional Japanese football club based in Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido in the north of Japan. The club currently plays in J. League Div. 2 Group 2. The Club was founded at the start of season 42 by former football player turned railway tycoon, '''Tomokazu Aonuma, who's railway group Aonuma Railway funded the club in the outskirts of Sapporo, the capital of the island of Hokkaido. The club currently uses the Sapporo Municipal Stadium for its home games. It currently has a capacity of 38,000, with the club discussing the possibility of renovating the ground to increase capacity and finally its purchase from the city. The club reached the agreed upon 20,000 capacity at the start of S.44 thus triggering the purchase of the ground from the City of Sapporo. The have yet to rename the ground. The club current manager is Jason, who returned to management after his former player offer him the managerial role at Hokkaido '95 F.C. History Since retiring from Football at the end of season 25, Tomokazu Aonuma [智和 青沼] ''returned to Japan to become the head of his family Aonuma Railway group after his late father left the company in his hands. Over the next decade and a half, he worked to realize his dream of building a football club in his hometown of Sapporo, Hokkaido. All the negotiations with the city and paperwork done in time for the new season, they were admitted into the lowest league of the Japan football pyramid, Japan Football League 4. Tomokazu decided to hire his former boss at F.C New Era II, in Russia, Jason, who was currently in retirement. After much thought he decided to take his former players offer and became Hokkaido '95 F.C new manager. = '''Season 42 ' The club would finish 2nd in their debut season, with 23 wins 2 draws and 9 defeats ending the season with 71 points, 1 point behind eventual league winner, Hachi-UNITED. The club would go on to win the play-off, beating rivals Kyōto FC and 甲斐郡内FCゼルコーバ, to earn promotion to J. League Division 3. Some sections of the fanbase would be disappointed with the manager not winning the league, considering his decade of experience. Season 43 ''' The club began the season on fire, taking the League by storm, winning 11 of their opening games, including wins against, SAKAI FC, Nishikaigan kara Burakkusuwan and FC Maebashi City, which would throw the newly promoted club in their second consecutive title race, thus dispelling fears that they would go straight back down. But their 2nd half form would see them unable to keep up their surprising title challenge, ultimately finishing 4th with 69 points, where they would go on to lose the promotion play-off against EAST TOKYO UNITED. They would earn many plaudits for their attacking football. '''Season 44 The start of their 2nd second in Division 3 didn’t go as explosive as their previous season, with several new players included in the XI, notably then record signing Yamaguchi, signed for then a club record 51M to replace retiring club legend McDonald, who was out injured. It took the side quite a while to gel, by which time their season was hanging by a thread. Their cup run was undoubtedly the highlight of their season, reaching the round of last 16, losing to J. League Division 1 side Ashina, to a highly respectable 3-1 score line. They would ultimately finish 7th with 66 points in the league, 3 points off their season goal of top 6. Season 45 ''' They'd start new season in dire form with only 1 win their opening 4 games, their opening game against Salvatore!, after their rocky start to the season the team began to hit their stride with the 3 new comers to the Hokkaido starting XI, Aoki, Nishikawa and new record signing řezníček starting to find their rhythm before řezníček missed half the season due to a long term injury, they would remain in the race for top 4 for most of the season, only with a heavy loss to Tokyo Ocean, 5-1 and an embarrassing final home game, a 1-1 draw with Fc Araking condemning them to 5th place, above their season target of 6th place. Their cup run was again the highlight of their season once again with them matching last season heroics reaching the last 16 of the cup of Japan, losing to Div. 2.4 side 益荒男Japan, 3-0. '''Season 46 They'd start the new season with a thumping 6-0 away win to Tomakomai F.C.V. with star striker Yamaguchi bagging a hat-trick. They'd followed it with a battling 2-2 at home to Baten Kaitos with a late equalizer earning them a deserved point. They would lose their first match of the season to newly promoted Hakodate Night Sky 1-0. Following the game Hokkaido's tittle challenge credentials would be put into serious question as would Jason's capability to take the club forward. "They're have quite the experienced bunch of lads almost throughout the whole starting XI, in contrast I’m missing Toan experienced DC, out injured, ...in the end their experienced lads managed the game better than us," Jason said in his post-match press conference. They would bounce well from their shock home defeat to win 7 games on the trot including their first win in Osaka against what was fast becoming a bitter rivalry, Real Osaka, 2-0, and a hard fought 2-1 away to Hanshin Tigers. Their run of wins which saw them gain momentum to challenge for top spot was put to an abrupt halt with 3 losses on the bounce to, Scarlet Rabbit at home, against newly promoted side Blue Nation F.C away and arguably their most embarrassing defeat of the season 3-0 to newly promoted Naha-Shi Wendsday, which incidentally also broke a club record for most defeats on the bounce. Injuries would hamper Hokkaido for much of the season with Centre-back duo of Aoki and Toan missing almost 20 games between them which contribute to their erratic defensive record. There would be no cup magic this year as they would lose in round 2 to Blue Resistance 2-1. They would end the season in lowly 8th place with 61points with their worst defensive record in the club’s history, conceding a record 42 goals and losing 13 games, also a new record as they never lost double figure games before. A truly miserable season for the club. Season 47 The pressure was on at the start of the new season to drastically improve their league form this season with rumours circulating that manager, Jason's job on the line if they didn’t improve. There would be some changes to his line-up with last season's late signing duo Piui OML and Karim OML/F earning a place in the side. Fans were nervous that this wasn’t enough to turn around last season failures. They're doubts were quickly dispelled with a commanding 4-1 over old rivals F.C West Kyoto, with Karim netting all four goals. They would also put 4 past Hakodate Night Sky in their opening home game avenging last season’s double loss. They would go on a 9-game unbeaten run winning 7 and drawing 2, including wins over rivals, Real Osaka, in Hokkaido. Their run would come to an end at the hands of, fast becoming arch rivals, Tokyo Oceans in the Capital. They would win the remaining 4 games of the first half of the season, drawing 3-3 against Hanshin Tigers, with them losing convincingly 3-0 at the 76th minute when Tashiro began the Hokkaido comeback which was completed in the 90th minute by Yamaguchi to end the first half in top spot. Many believed this would be Hokkaido's year to win the title and Jason to win his first major honour. With many commentating that they had the “champions attitude” after their 3-3 draw with Hanshin Tigers. However, a sharp decline in form and injuries in the second half of the season saw their title challenge collapse in rather spectacular fashion. Highlight of which was the return game against Hakdodate Night Sky where they would be battered by the future champions 5-1, which seem to completely wreck their confidence for the remainder of the season. They would also be battered by Baten Kaitos away from home, placing the final nail in the coffin with regards to the title race. After the game Jason vowed his team would keep on fighting till the bitter end, which they did managing to finish 3rd, earning a club record 79 points thus earning a place-off spot but losing the final against Baten Kaitos, again by a rather heavy score line of 4-1. Season 48 Calls to remove manager Jason have grown quite a bit at the end of the season seeing their season crumble in spectacular form. At one point at the start of pre-season there were rumours that a protest has going to be held outside the clubs training ground in the Atsubestu-ku Ward of Sapporo. The club acted before any protest could be held that could distract the players from the concentrating on the season ahead by releasing a statement saying, "We are well aware of the discontent with how last season ended, everyone at the club was devastated that our best season so far ended the way it did, but we must also be proud of our achievements that we've had 3 title challenge in the span of 5 season a professional football club. That is no easy feat and the club feels that Jason, is still the man to take the club forward in our quest to become one of Japan's elite clubs," said chief executive, Mei Akai. The club later held a meeting between the disgruntle fans and manager Jason, so he could calm their discontent. They would start the season dire form, a 5-match winless streak, which included a controversial loss to arch rivals Real Osaka, where new record signing, Kirill Petrov would break the deadlock early into his debut match before, Toan questionable red card handed Osaka the match. Jason feeling his side have been robbed in Osaka, had some strong words to say about the officials which landed him a 5-match touchline band from the J. FA Football Association. They would win their first match of the season at home to Akakichi No Eleven, where record signing Kirill Petrov, would make his home debut where he scored a hat-trick. They would show some signs of finding form with back to back wins, thanks to Petrov’s goals but that wasn’t enough to appease some disgruntle fans as they staged their first protest during their 1-1 draw at home to M.U.F.C with attendance for that game were at a record low at roughly 22,000. Speaking after the game, Jason's assistant manager, Andrey Masterkov, his former captain in Russia, said that the club need unity not diving forces as they try to make something of the season. Their next match saw them travel to rivals Tokyo Oceans, where they haven’t won any of the games they've played against the Tokyo club. They would triumph in Tokyo 4-1 thanks to a double from Petrov. With the protestors being silence, albeit temporarily, Hokkaido went on leaving it late against both Hanshin Tigers at home and Shibory Tosu FC to win it. There were whispers of them mounting a serious title challenge, but this was a side heavily reliant on Petrov’s goals, which would dry up at some point of the season and which it did, which saw their title challenge turned into a fight for the remaining promotion places. They would barely manage to scrap 4th place with 59 points, a club record for lowest points haul, to make to the play-offs where they would eventually lose to FC BoltNut 2-1. Season 49 Still even after somehow managing to salvage their season and end on a respectable note the calls to remove Jason hasn’t faded out completely, which completely bemused the manager who saw his colleague at Real Osaka, having barely escaped relegation face less stick then himself. "At this point in time, I’m completely and utterly baffled at this to the fans protesting, Osaka barely escaped relegation and you don’t see them protesting for his head, and we've achieved roughly the same as them," he said at the club’s pre-season camp in Nagoya. They would put all the that behind them as the season began, and would go on to mount a respectable title challenge, finishing 2nd behind FC BoltNut, who would only lose 1 once all season. Season 50 The club was moved into another group ahead of the new season. Asked whether the move would hamper preparations for the new season, the gaffer answered, “Somewhat, since we have new opponents this season compare to last season but you still gotta get on with it,”. The discontent among the fanbase was certainly less then at the start of last season. The club would mount a serious title challenge this season, but would fall 5 points short of eventual champions, The Stars. “It was a bitterly fought title race this season, we just needed some luck in some games, it was that close of a race,” Jason said after the season ended. This would be the clubs best defensive performance in a season, letting in only 28 goals and would be the debut season of the man tasked to replace club legend Nishijima’s number 10 role. Yamagishi would end his season with 10 goals and 9 assist in 22 outings. Season 51 With the club approaching its decade season, Jason believed they were close to winning their first silverware, “We’re progressing nicely, it’s a matter of time before we win something. That I can guarantee,” they would come close once again to winning the title, with this season being their most fiercely contested one to date, with the top 3 only losing 3 games each, it came down to draws. Where the club lucked out, drawing a club record 9 games to finish 6 points behind 1st and finishing 4 points behind arch rivals Tokyo Oceans, 2nd. That left a very sour taste to what has been a record points haul for the club in a season. Season 52 The club was once again moved to another group ahead of the start of the season, with this season they be playing in group 9. After last season’s record breaking points haul,75 points in total, yielding a disappointing 3rd place finish 4 points behind bitter rivals Tokyo Oceans and 6 behind champions Grumb. The high number of draws ended eventually costing them a league title, but Jason was confident in his side ahead of the new season which will be their decade season, speaking to the press at their usual pre-season camp in Nagoya, "Last season was disappointing in many ways, we put up a valiant effort against a side that had no dip in form throughout the season. But this team is coming together nicely, both tactically and as a team, with 1 or 2 signings away from achieving our goal of winning the league and earning promoting to the 2nd Division,". But their season started incredibly lacklustre at home to Yum Yum, ending in a dull 0-0 draw, with Soylu coming off injured the sour note. They improved on their 2nd game, away to A.C.M, running out confident 4-1 winners, with academy graduate, Abe,19, making his 1st team debut in Soylu's place. They would record their biggest ever home win, an absolute thrashing against FC Que B, 16-0, with Polish midfielder, Siemienak, scoring 4 but the highlight was definitively club legend Petrov,36, scoring his 100th and 101st goals for the club making him the 1st player in the club’s history to score a century of goals for the club. They would continue to go through the gears by beating The Stars away from home,3-1, with new 38.8M signing Yoshizawa making his debut, the only sour note being Kawaguchi limping off injured. They cruised past Nankatsu at home running out 5-1 winners. They would then thump 涼子の院 away from home, 7-1, with Petrov continuing his fine goal-scoring form. They continue their rich vein of form beating B Mount Cat Soccer Club, 3-1 away from home and Tokyo Thunder at home,6-1, with Yoshizawa scoring a hattrick to cement his growing importance in Jason's midfield 3 keeping club captain Kawaguchi firmly out of the side and on the bench. They would welcome back Soylu for their 5-0 win at home to B FC Iwaki, with Muramatsu handing in a man of the match performance coming off the bench and handing a timely reminder of his talents as he looked to take Petrov's starting berth. They would struggle to beat a resolute Yokohama Eagles at home with Yoshizawa netting the game’s only goal, with Sakai making a string of saves to keep the then league top scorer, Lyes Agócs, at bay. They travelled to ＦＣガンガラム, in what was dubbed the first title decider of the season with pitted Jason's, free scoring league leaders against the league’s best defence. They would go on to lose that match with Shintaku, a surprise inclusion, bullet header failing to inspire a Hokkaido comeback, with the host being an award a controversial penalty late on to seal the win and go top of the league. "We played poorly and weren’t clinical enough. A tad unlucky too," Jason said at his post-match press conference. The media back home in Hokkaido were more brutal in the analysis of the game, believing Jason's men squandered their best shot of establishing a commanding lead early on, to which Jason responded, "It’s quite early in the season still, and the difference is now a mere 1 point. We will bounce back and keep chasing them down." They would indeed bounce back, with Yamagishi netting a hat-trick, in a 4-1 win at home to S.C Gedou, with Marumatsu replacing Petrov in the staring XI, but would drew a blank in his first start of the season with Petrov grabbing a goal, Sakai would don the armband. Jason's faith in Marumatsu would soon be rewarded with the forward handing in a 4-goal man of the match performance away to Shonan Bellmare in a 6-2 win. Hokkaido would go on to beat a stubborn w.k.b Nagoyans at home 4-2 with 2 of 3 centre backs getting on the score sheet. The win was slightly soured by Polish midfielder Siemienak going off injured but was immediately replaced with great news that league leaders ＦＣガンガラム, would record a shocking loss, and a quite heavy one away to Yokohama Eagles, 5-1, handing Hokkaido back top spot. They would then cruise in their remaining games of the 1st half of the season, with the result against Fox God at home particularly impressive, being down to 10 men for most of the 2nd half. "No titles are handing out at the halfway point of the season, we simply have to stay consistent for the remainder of the season," Jason was quoted saying at his pre-match press conference as he sought to dismiss fear that this Hokkaido side doesn’t have it in them for the long haul. Doesn’t help his teams tend to collapse at the 2nd half of the season with the most famous being that FC New Era II, in Russia, season 28, side that went 16 games unbeaten only to cruelly fall apart the 2nd half of the season. To Jason's credit his Hokkaido side have seem to dispel that notion that his side could only play for half a season. They would start the 2nd half of the season in fine form, thumping both Yum Yum and A.C.M, 8-0. They would continue the trend of heavy victories, with an 11-1 battering of FC Que B away. They would record routine wins against The Stars and Nankatsu, with the win against Nankatsu being overshadowed by a long-term injury towards Sakai, with academy graduate, Niwa, 21, making his debut. "It’s a horrible injury, his season could be over," Jason said of the length of Sakai's injury, adding "We currently have no timetable for his injury, we'll try to get him back as soon as possible in a way that won’t aggravate his injury." Some media outlet started comparing Sakai's injury to that suffered by Jason's goalkeeper that season', '''Ilya' Knivelyov, current goalkeeping coach at the club, in an 8-0 cup loss away to Russia's biggest club, J.F, the turning point where their incredible season started to fall apart. Jason's dismissed those fears, "This current Hokkaido side and that side, are completely different in every aspect. We were a more thinly balanced side that were 1 injury away from collapsing which sadly happened. Niwa will be an excellent deputy to Sakai, I have complete trust in the youngster. He was coached by Ilya," he said in an interview with Hokkaido Sport. The youngster would get his full Hokkaido debut at home to, 涼子の院 in 8-0 win, keeping a clean sheet. Hokkaido would continue to record large wins, beating B Mount Cat Soccer Club, 5-0 at home. They would extend their lead at top over their rivals to 9 points, with the battering of Tokyo Thunder in the capital after ＦＣガンガラム, drew 3-3 at home to The Stars. A day that should have been of joy for Hokkaido with Yamagishi on 31 assist, and Marumatsu on 26 goals, on course to break Nishijima and McDonalds, most assist ,38, and goals ,36, in a season record respectively turned into sorrow with the injury to fan favourite wing back Fukunaka, possibly having his season ended prematurely in the capital. Jason remained optimistic," We're massively unlucky with injuries at this crucial stage of the season. But we will get through this, we possess a deep enough squad to deal with this." After Soylu, Jason's last remaining senior wing back receiving his 5th yellow away to A.C.八千穂, in round 2 Cup of Japan. Hayamoto Muta would be handed his senior debut at home to B FC Iwaki, joining Abe on the opposite flank and Shintaku in defence becoming the highest amount of academy graduates to simultaneously start for the club. They would lose away to Yokohama Eagles, being on the wrong end of a thrilling 4-3, taking the lead 3 times, highlighting some fragilities at the back. Those same fragilities were exposed once again in their 2-1, home loss to title rivals, ＦＣガンガラム, after Yoshizawa had handed them the lead. They would also lose Soylu to injury, making it a horribly miserable day for Hokkaido. Following Soylu’s horrible injury, Jason took no chances in their next cup game, resting most of his XI, which they were made to work for, scoring 2 goals in extra time, only with an injury towards Siemienak ruining the game. Sakai’s return from injury came at the right time as he was vital in their hard-fought wins over S.C Gedou and Shonan Bellmare, with the match against Shonan adding towards the club’s injury crisis with Abe and Kajiyama suffering nasty injuries with Yoshizawa being wrongly sent off, making what look like an easy run-in, look needlessly difficult. For their round of 16 cup tie at home to BoltNut, Jason would completely change his XI handing several debuts, in what a spiriting display, in what ultimately turned into a 5-1 drubbing, holding the score line at 1-1 for a majority of the game. They would go on to lose 3 of their remaining league games, including the infamous 5-2 battering at home to Shingo after being 2 nil up inside the opening 10 minutes. They would lose the title on the last day of the season at home. Another long-term injury to Siemienak rubbed salt in Hokkaido’s wounds. “it’s simple, injuries simply took its toll on us, we didn’t lose the title to a superior footballing side. It was simply injuries coming at the wrong time for us, completely wrecking our form,” said a visibly distraught Jason, who thought he would finally right the wrongs that happen that season in Russia. Sadly, for him and Hokkaido, the stars wouldn’t align for them. “I don’t know, right now none of the players are in any state of mind to bother with a play off so we won’t be bothering with it, for their own safety as well. They’ll start their vacations early and we start pre-season at roughly the same time. I don’t think we’ll be challenging for the title aggressively next season as we’ll be doing a massive reshuffling at the club.” Jason would be fined ¥600k could face a 10-match suspension for throwing away his runners-up medal in front of League director Haru, as his side were collecting theirs, inspiring majority of his senior players to do the same, with the crowd throwing it in the trashcan. “This is not something new, I am known for this, yet he Haru would insist on placing it around my neck when everyone before would simply hand it to me in my hands. How can you expect me to accept that after this season? A complete and utter joke from people who should have known better,” Jason said of the incident. The club are unlikely to bother appealing the decision and confirm Jason wouldn’t be disciplined with. '''Season 53 With last season soul crushing finish still fresh in the players mind, many were curious as to how Jason would rally his troops for the upcoming season. Jason was still banned for the first 10 matches of the season, with his number 2, Masterkov taking over the reins. “We have to keep moving forward, last season will be tough to get rid of, it will take a while but the only way to remove such a tragic tale is to write a new one with a happier ending. We cannot stay here and feel sorry for ourselves,” stated Jason at his pre-season press conference in Okinawa. The season would prove to be a complete and utter write off, with relegated side, FC Dreamer, winning the league with a record 36 wins. With the club finishing runners-up with several club records broken, a record points hall of 92, and a records win, 30, best defensive performance, letting in only 26 goals, least amount of losses, 2, and an end to McDonalds 11 season record goals scored in a season, with local boy, Ko Murayama, being handed the role of 1st choice striker, would proceed to score 37 in 32. “So many records broken, but they all feel hallow given how the season went. This season feels like a complete write off, I have no idea how a club who should be in at top half of league 2 can get relegated into league 3, and end up in our group no less,” said club owner Tomokazu Aonuma. Season 54 The club was once again moved into a new group ahead of the season into group 8. Given the lack of new signings they weren't seen as genuine title challengers for this season. They would start the season in blistering form, winning their opening 5 games by large margins, setting the pace up at the top of the table before a shocking loss away to B Mount Cat Soccer Club, proving that Jason's side were still to inconsistent to win the title, is what the local papers said after the match. They would respond to the setback in brilliant form, winning all but 2 of their remaining games for the 1st half of the season, regaining top spot in the process. There would be no dip in form in the 2nd half of the season as they would win 9 on the bounce, establishing a healthy point lead at the top before an abysmal loss at home to F.C Sansa, 4-1, started to sow doubt into people. Nonetheless they would once again respond in brilliant form, beating nearest rivals, FOX GOD, 2-0, at home to open a 11-point lead with 8 games to go. Many believe that it was a big enough lead to see out the season, but doubts began to crop up once again in the controversial draw away to Yamashiro New Stars, in which I dubious penalty was awarded to draw the host level, cutting the clubs lead to 9 points. Fears began to turn into reality when first choice Goalkeeper was injured in a match against Real Osaka B at home, leaving the side short on several 1st choice players due to several suspension. They would lose their next match 6-4 to FC WARABI, cutting their lead at the top to 6 points with 3 games to go. With the club needing just 1 win to all but confirm their title win, since they had a vastly better goal difference to their nearest rivals, Jason was confident his side could see out the season and win the league, "I believe we will see this out. It’s all in our own hands, we do not have to nor want to rely on someone doing us a favour. We're nearly there," They would go on to draw their next game 3-3, again throwing away the chance to seal out the title and prevent a nervy last game at home. They would finally get the 1 win needed to guarantee the would finish the season as champions with a commanding, 3-0, away to MAU, which sparked wild celebrations back in Sapporo and they didn’t had a nervy last day at home, which they would go on to win 2-1, ending the season with 85 points and finishing as champions, both the club and Jason's first league title, who along with his staff, most of whom were his former players in Russia would banish the nightmare of the horrible season 28 and two seasons ago. History Stadium The clubs home ground was the recently refurbished Sapporo Municipal Stadium in the outskirts of the City of Sapporo, Hokkaido which had a capacity of 10,000 for football matches. The club managed to convince the city's Diet to allow the club to be the grounds solo tenants, as they began planning for expanding the ground and thus converting it into a purely football ground. The city agreed under the condition the club would continue to pay rent until the grounds capacity exceeded 20,000 and that they would not remove the athletic track before they exceed 20,000. The club reached to the 20,000 capacity early in S.44, thus gaining full control over the ground and not needing to pay the city anymore rent to use the stadium. The club plans on renaming the stadium but assured fans that they will not sell the naming rights to stadium. The stadiums capacity currently stands at 38,000. Club Records and more Player Records *(as of 6/8/2018) '''outdated!' '''Player of the year' *Liam and Toan were actually tied with an avg. 5.92 each but Toan played 6 games more than Liam thus handing Liam the award on least games played **Kenji and Petrov were actually tied with an avg. 6.11 each but Petrov played only 17 games with the minimum games required being 24 league games. Club Finishes Club Records * All-time club record only: 392 wins/104 draws/145 losses (60.7%/16.9%/22.4%) * Most points collected in a season: 92 points , Season 53 * Most goals scored in a season: 167 goals , Season 47 * Least goals conceded in a season: 26 goals , Season 53 * Most goals scored by a single player in a season: Ko Maruyama, 37 goals in 32 games Season 53 * Most Assist by a single player in a season: Sawao Nishijima, 38 assist in 34 games Season 47 * Best Avg. Rating by a player in a season: Juzaburo Yoshizawa, avg. rating of 7.16 in 28 games, Season 52 * Most longest winning streak: 15 Games * Biggest home win: 16-0 against F.C Que B season 52 * Biggest home defeat: 6-0 against A.C IRUMA Category:Japanese Football Clubs Category:Football Clubs